Eslick Serves it Up at Hallett!

Take a seat, and then watch Danny Eslick lap Hallett on Jason's stock GSX-R1000 camera bike!

June 2008 Newsletter

Out of the Clubhouse and into the fire - Jason to World Superbike!I just wanted to drop a line and thank those of you that have written to support me in WSBK. It's a dream come true for me, as I love Europe and always wanted to ride WSBK. I had a good Miller weekend even though the results may not show it. I had never ridden a Honda, or any tire besides a Dunlop, or Showa suspension before. You can imagine how I felt going into first practice Friday morning! I had a track advantage for 15 minutes but those guys get up to speed quick as you know, and Miller is an easy learn.I ended up 1.3 off of provisional pole after Saturday and just .191 out of Superpole - Haga was 16th! I didn't think that was bad after just 2.5 hours on the bike. We were quite a bit down on speed but that should be better in Germany next weekend.

The Alto Evolution Honda is very sensitive to changes, and the first race we basically tried something that didn't work - chatter chatter chatter.The second race was much better, considering I got hit in turn 1 and was dead last. I fought through from miles back and finally caught Rolfo and Gimbert on the last lap, but I made a small mistake and that was it -18th. I was six seconds out of 15th at the end, so I am hoping to start scoring some World Championship points soon. The team is great - it should be interesting how the rest of the year goes.

I am still riding for MACO Moto in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The decision to ride for them was the correct one and we are only going to get better as the year goes. Warwick and I get on great and the team chemistry is amazing. I wouldn't have done WSBK unless Alto Evolution let me ride WEC, they were very understanding. Suzuka should be good and I know Denisa and Maco are working hard.

Maco Moto was 6th in the WEC 6 Hours of Alabacete - JP rode 4 of the 6 hours

Our schools are going awesome - I'll only miss one of them with my new schedule - Loudon in August. But I know that Mark and Lick will run a great school there.

STAR just returned from our first school at one of my new favorite tracks - Motorsports Park Hastings. What a place! George has done an incredible job building his Field of Dreams in the middle of fifteen-story grain elevators in Nebraska. Safe, interesting layout, the BEST pavement in the US bar-none. And completed condos on the track (not just drawings). Thanks for George from MPH and Dean Rumfola from TrackAddix for having us out. We'll definitely be back.

Cheers,

JP

Upcoming Schools

STAR is headed to points East. We'll be returning to the Alan Wilson-designed Gingerman Raceway in Michgan on July 14th and 15th. We're making our annual trip to Richie Alexander-ville, New Hampshire International Speedway August 4th and 5th. Live in the Southeast? Visit STAR August 25th and 26th at JenningsGP.

Oh, and Danny Eslick came out to his home track of Hallett for the STAR School and took a few laps on Jason's camera bike. Are you sitting down?

Eslick Serves it Up!

STAR Instructors at the racetrack in 2008

Instructors James Lickwar and Richie Alexander have been busy following the AMA circus in their positions as Crew Chiefs for Team Roadracingworld.com and Jordan Motorsports, respectively. Lick's rider Robertino Pietri finally had his expected breakthrough, qualifying on the front row at California Speedway in Superstock and leading the most laps before slipping back to 4th. Pietri flew straight to the Miller STAR school where he spent two days riding an SV650 and working with Gallardo on body position. Seemed to work, as he had another front row qualifying position at Infineon and Road America. He made use of that qualifying at Road America, finishing in 3rd place.

For our Norcal students - what's it take to qualify on the front row in an AMA National at Infineon? Pietri went 1:37.3, and that was only good enough for 4th!

Tino and Lick wait patiently for Gallardo to tell them the Secret at Miller

Instructor Dave Stanton finished 2nd in Formula Pacific race at the May AFM event in his defense of the AFM overall #1 plate. Craig Mclean was 3rd in Open Twins at the same event.

Jimmy Wood made his return to the Nationals, finishing 3rd in the 600 Superstock race at Miller Motorsports Park during the WERA weekend. Rumor has it Jimmy has caved to peer pressure and will be making his debut at Willow Springs this month. Get some J Wood!

STAR Club

Want to get more involved in STAR? Become a STAR CLUB Member. This month STAR profiles student and STAR Club Member Michael Jabara.

Group and Individual Disounts Available

Checked out the SuperSTAR Discounts? You should, It's free money.

That's all for now. Ride Safe,

STAR

Get well soon Lee. We're thinking about you.

Pridmore to World Superbike Championship!

TOOELE – UTAH – Alto Evolution Honda Superbike would like to communicate to the world motorcycle media that from the USA Round up to the end of the season a new rider will take part of the Superbike World Championship together with Shuhei Aoyama.

This decision was taken after the five first rounds of the Championship because the Team needed a more experienced rider in order to help Aoyama in his process of adapting his riding style to Superbike. Unfortunately, Luca Morelli was too young to make this role, apart from his riding skills and fast style, and this was the main reason that made both him and Alto Evolution agreed on breaking their racing agreement.

This choice points to the place where the World Superbike is racing this week, and more specifically to the AMA and one of its most important riders, the Californian Jason Pridmore.

The idea of bringing Pridmore to Team Alto Evolution happened during the Monza Round of the World Superbike Championship, when his manager, Michael Murphy, was introduced to the Team Manager, the Eng. Marco Nicotari. It was around 15 days from that informal meeting up to the formal agreement, and the entire Team is really excited about having a rider as talented as Pridmore to help in the development of the new CBR-1000RR.

Pridmore has been riding at Miller Motorsports Park since 2006, when he took part in both AMA Superbike and Superstock races and during the past three years he has been coming here with his riding school, the STAR Motorcycle School. He became an AMA rider in 1992; in 1998 he took part in the American round of the World Supersport Championship in Laguna Seca and finished in 3rd place. In addition, in 2002 he won the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship and in 2003 the World Endurance Championship.

Confirming the rumours that came about in the paddock yesterday afternoon, Pridmore had been to the Alto Evolution garage and met the Team. Everybody was excited about his presence, and his technicians, crew chief and the Team Manager could answer some questions about the bike and we could learn from him a bit about the circuit and his expectations: “Being in the World Superbike is like a dream come true; I am feeling remotivated and excited to be here.”

After his visit in our garage, the Eng. Marco Nicotari has declared that “We are very happy about having Jason with us and I am sure that he can help us to reach the goals we set for this season.”

The Team has been working hard since the Monza round in order to solve all technical issues with the electronics and get the bikes ready for these races in the USA. Miller Motortsports Park is a beautiful place and having the AMA championship and World Superbike together has certainly brought more emotion and colour to the weekend. We all hope for extremely fast and competitive sunny days among the Utah mountains.